Tidings of Joy

Okay, so now it's time to go back in time, and I will finally share with you my Christmas 2007 experience.

I actually only spent 6 days at home over Christmas, so my time with my family was kind of a whirlwind. I drove home on Friday, got some good time in with my folks, and then late that night picked up my sister and her roommate at the airport. Saturday was a day of catching up with the rest of the fam and getting ready for our annual Christmas party. From the time I was young, we've had a party where all the children showcase their talents. When I was taking piano lessons, I'd play piano, and when I was in the band, I'd play my flute. I remember a time when the talent portion of the evening was fairly short. But, my friends, times have changed, and we had over 20 acts this year, ranging from piano solos to Samoan dances to beautiful ballads of guitar and voice. No longer having any legitimate musical talent, my younger sister Jamie and I have taken to doing a sort of interpretive dance every year. We choose a classic Christmas song and choreograph ridiculous moves and have an awesome time doing it. Unfortunately, I don't actually have pictures of that dance. I do, however, have pictures of me and my sisters, who all happened to wear waffle-weave shirts in Christmas colors that night.

And our classic kissing faces...(it only took about five tries to get this shot)

My dear friend, Krista, who got married last May and lives in Tennessee, was able to come up from her parents' in Tucson and spend the evening with us. Being one of the family, she's experienced our parties before, so she was able to handle the chaos that is our Christmas extravaganza. It was such a delight to have her there!

Sunday was a day for last-minute shopping, and running around. Somehow it seems when I'm home the mornings always start leisurely, and then we discuss our plans for the day, and then it's go, go, go until late at night.

Monday, being Christmas Eve, was time for celebrating with extended family. We always start out with the Morrison side of the family, exchanging stories and gifts with cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma. While there, we took the opportunity to get a photo of our immediate seven.Don't you think my family's one of the best looking out there?

After celebrating with the Morrison side, we go to my aunt and uncle's on my mom's side, where we do more gift exchanging and play games. Oh, and this year there might have been a demonstration of "Soulja Boy"...No big deal, really.

Here are my Uncle Skylar and cousin, Kira, enjoying the celebration.

Christmas day in our household starts with the discovery of our "Santa" gifts - gifts which appear during the night, unwrapped with a tag from the jolly man himself. This year he was good to me, bringing me the hot item of the year: a Wii. Oh yeah. My brother was just as pleased with his Santa gift - a snowboard:

We open the rest of the family gifts, and then we spend a relaxing day in our pajamas, playing with our new toys. The Wii was definitely a hit. I mean, look at Lacie's form on bowling:

And, doesn't it just look like fun when you see me dodging punches in boxing?By the way, these lovely pictures were taken by Lacie on her new digital camera. Didn't she do a lovely job?

Now that Jamie's married, she spends Christmas morning with her husband, so we didn't celebrate with them until Christmas evening, when they came over for Christmas dinner. I absolutely love this picture of the two of them.

I was talking with my staff team last night about what traditions make Christmas Christmas for them. I think the thing for me is Christmas dinner with Christmas crackers. We have a big feast with family and friends, and at each place setting there is an English Christmas cracker which has a toy, a joke and a hat in it. So, we all enjoy dinner wearing these funny paper crowns, and it's good food and good times with good friends, and it's absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from dinner, but it was great.

So, that's the scoop. I so enjoyed being home with my family, and my only complaint is that my time with them was too short.